{This
is the most comprehensive yet abbreviated essay on the subject I've found.
--jhs}

The English word for “God” has become a source of
confusion for Christians since at least the Anglo-Saxon era.Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary says
that the origin of the word ‘god’ comes from a Germanic word ‘gad,’ pronounced
as “gohdt.”

The following information on the origin of the word ‘god’
will help to understand why we use it in our vernacular.

GOD - The English word God is identical with the
Anglo-Saxon word for “good,” and therefore it is believed that the name God
refers to the divine goodness. (See Oehler's Theol. of Old Test.; Strong's and
Young's concordances.)(From New
Unger's Bible Dictionary)(Originally published by Moody Press of Chicago, Illinois.Copyright (C) 1988.)

Further information on the source of our word for ‘God’ is
listed below:

Word origin:God - Our word god goes back via Germanic to Indo-European, in which a
corresponding ancestor form meant “invoked one.”The word’s only surviving non-Germanic
relative is Sanskrit hu, invoke the gods, a form which appears in the Rig Veda,
most ancient of Hindu scriptures:puru-hutas,“much invoked,”
epithet of the rain-and-thunder god Indra.(From READER’S DIGEST, Family Word Finder, page 351) (Originally
published by The Reader’s Digest Association, Inc., Pleasantville New York,Montreal;Copyright(C)1975)

Now if the sources noted above are accurate, then the word
that we use for the Supreme Being, God, comes from a very pagan origin.Thus the word god is used generically by
many different religions to refer to their deity or “invoked one.”

Some may laugh at the notion, the very idea that the word
“God” has any origin or association with Hindu Sanskrit.To illustrate how this is possible, we
again quote from ‘Family Word Finder’ on the historical development of our
Modern English language:

Page 7, ‘Word Origins’ - “English belongs to the
Indo-European family of languages, which consists of about 100 related tongues,
all descended from prehistoric language of a pastoral, bronze working, horse
breeding people, the Aryans, who inhabited the steppes of Central Asia about
4500 B.C.Scholars refer to their
language at this stage as proto-Indo-European, or simply Indo-European.

Over the next 3,000 years or so, the community of
Indo-European speakers splintered off, to Iran and India (where their idiom
developed into the sister languages, Old Persian and Sanskrit) and elsewhere in
many other directions, mainly westward.

The farther a field they ranged, the farther their
ancestral manner of speaking the diverged.The old national name, Aryan (meaning “noble”), survived in both
Persia and India and is in fact the source of the present day Iran.

Within a few hundred years after the primeval Aryan
community started breaking up, there were already several Indo-European
languages where there had once been only one.

Derivative idioms grew even farther apart, so that by the
dawn of recorded history a dozen branches of the Indo-European language family
overspread most of western Eurasia from the Himalayas to the Atlantic.The most important of these branches
are:

·Indo-Iranian (comprising-in Iran-Persian and-in
India-Sanskrit, together with the derivative Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, and other
languages including Romany, the language of the Gypsies)

·Slavic (Russian, Polish, etc.)

·Hellenic (Greek)

·Italic (Latin and derivative Romance languages such as
French and Italian)

To illustrate the family relationship of these languages,
here are the words for mother and brother in languages belonging
to the above-mentioned branches and also in the common ancestor tongue,
Indo-European:

Englishmother
brother

Germanmutterbruder

Gaelicmathairbraithair

Latinmaterfrater

Greekmeterphrater

Old Church
Slavonicmatibratu

Sanskritmatrbhratr

Indo-European* mater-*bhrater

Note:Indo-European forms are preceded by asterisks, indicating they are
reconstructions - that is, these are educated guesses by scholars as to
the word’s original form; also, because word endings are the least predictable,
most changeable aspect of language, scholars place hyphens instead of
conjectural ending at the end of each reconstructed Indo-European word.)

Words (from the list above) like ‘mother’ and ‘brother’
have common ancestry, and it is customary to refer to them as
cognates.Thus, English
mother is cognate with Latin mater, although it does not
derive directly from it. (diagram omitted)

During the Roman occupation of Britain in the first four
centuries of the Christian era, many Britons and Romans were bilingual, but as
far as we know it never occurred to any of them that their respective languages
were long-lost cousins.

Still less, would it have occurred to them that the speech
of the Jutes, Saxons, Angles, and Frisians (who were encamped on the North Sea
from Jutland down to the mouth of the Rhine) might be kin?It was with the coming of these Germanic
tribes, however, after the collapse of the Roman authority in A.D. 410, in which
the history of our language really began.

We now refer to their descendants as the Anglo-Saxons
and to their language as Old English.They were eventually to give Britain a
new name: England, “Land of the Angles.”

The Anglo-Saxon era lasted 500 years.During the second half of the period
(from A.D. 800 onward), successive waves of Viking invaders took over much of
England, reaching the height of their influence with the reign of Canute the
Great (994-1035), king of England, Denmark, and Norway.Though the Viking invaders eventually
integrated with their Anglo-Saxon cousins, these Norse-speaking newcomers left a
broad and indelible mark on our vocabulary.

The language of 10th-century England is as far removed
from us today as the dragon ships of the Vikings.To read Old English with comprehension,
we must study it like a foreign language.Here, for example, are the opening verses of the Lord’s Prayer as recited
by Englishmen in the year 1000:

Old EnglishModern English (King James)

Faeder ure,Our Father

Thu the eart on heofonum,which art in heaven,

Si thin Nama gehalgod.Hallowed be thy name.

Tobecume thin rice.Thy kingdom come.

Gewurthe thin willa on eorthanThy will be done in earth,

Swa swa on heofonum...as
it is in heaven...

The Norman Conquest brought the old English period to an
abrupt close.Expropriating the
English nobility in a series of bloodbaths following his coronation in London on
Christmas Day, 1066, William the Conqueror installed a new ruling class.

Overnight, French became the language of state business;
it was to remain so for several hundred years.At the same time, William promoted
marriages between Normans and English - a farsighted policy that led, in the
long run, not only to a national reconciliation, but also was richly blended
with imported French word-stock.

We call this language Middle English, and in it we
can recognize the immediate ancestor of Modern English.Emerging during the 12th and 13th
centuries, Middle English became a polished literary language during the 14th
century.

The dialect of the east Midlands around London was closer
to Modern English than any of the other dialects of England.In 1476 the printer William Caxton used
this dialect when he set up shop at Westminster and printed The Dictes and
Sayings of the Philosophers, the first book ever to be published in
England.

In this, as in many subsequent enormously influential
translations from the classics, Caxton used the current speech of London and
thus helped establish its predominant status.By the reign of Henry VIII, nearly one
generation later, London English was becoming a national standard.

A contemporary style manual advises the writer: “Ye shall
therefore take the usual speech of the Court and that of London, and the shires
lying about London within 60 miles, and not much above.”The language of this admonition is a bit
old-fashioned, but it is Modern English nonetheless.

While London town and London English were growing by leaps
and bounds, Humanism, the revival of Classical learning, was becoming a major
movement in England as elsewhere in Europe.During the 16th century, Humanists
introduced Greek and Latin words into the language by the thousands.

A large number of these words survived and now belong to
our classic vocabulary.Shakespeare’s works and the King James Bible, contemporary with the first
English settlements in America, provided a modern standard on both sides of the
Atlantic.

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UNDERSTANDING THE WORD “GOD” FROM THE BIBLE

Since our English language has it’s origin from
Indo-European influence, our understanding of the meaning of the word for “God”
(from the Biblical Hebrew and Greek languages) is obviously different.

When the King James Version of the Bible (KJV) was
translated inA.D. 1611, the
translators used the words common to European people.Instead of translating a word properly,
by using the Hebrew or Greek meaning, the translators replaced the true meaning
of the Scriptural words with words common to their London English
vernacular.

For example, we will first examine the words, LORD, Lord,
and lord.By providing the true
meaning of the use of these words, it is easy to see how the early Bible
translations were in error:

LORD- LORD.
The rendering of several Hebrew and Greek words, which have different
meanings:

1. LORD; GOD = Jehovah (Yahweh; Hebrew YHWH, third person
singular noun from the root word, “ehyeh” meaning literally, “self-existent”).
This is used as a proper
name of God and should have been retained in that form by the translators.The LORD (Yahweh) should read in the KJV
and other versions as, “He is” or “He exists”.

2. Lord or lord = (Hebrew ‘Adon’), an early word denoting
ownership; hence, absolute control. It is not properly a divine title, being
used of the owner of slaves (Genesis 24:14,27; 39:2,7, rendered “master”), of
kings, such as the lords of their subjects (Isaiah 26:13, “master”), of a
husband as lord of the wife (Genesis 18:12).It is applied to God as the owner and
governor of the whole earth <Ps. 114:7>.It is sometimes used as a term of
respect (like our sir) but with a pronoun attached (“my lord”).It often occurs in the plural.

3. Lord = Adonai (Hebrew ‘adonay’), emphatic, “the Lord”;
many regard it as the plural of number two (above; Adon).It is used chiefly in the Pentateuch--
always where God is submissively and reverently addressed (Exodus 4:10,13;
Joshua 7:8) and also when God is spoken of (1 Kings 13:9; 22:6).The Jews, out of a superstitious
reverence for the name Jehovah, always pronounce “Adonai” where “Yahweh” is
written.The similar form, with the
suffix, is also used of men, as of Potiphar (Genesis 39:2, “master”) and of
Joseph (Genesis 42:30, 33).

4. Lord, Master = (Greek ‘kurios,’ meaning, “supreme”);
referencing he to whom a person or thing belongs, the master, the one having
disposition of men or property, as the “owner of the vineyard” (Matthew
20:8; 21:40; Mark 12:9; Luke 20:15); the “Lord of the harvest” (Matthew 9:38;
Luke 10:2); the “master of the house” (Mark 13:35); “Lord of the Sabbath”
(Matthew 12:8; Mark 2:28; Luke 6:5), as having the power to determine what is
suitable to the Sabbath, and of releasing himself and others from its
obligation.

The term is also a title of honor sometimes rendered “sir”
and is expressive of the respect and reverence with which servants salute their
master (Matthew 13:27; Luke 13:8; 14:22);employed by a son in addressing his father (Matthew 21:29); by citizens
toward magistrates (Matthew 27:63); by anyone wishing to honor a man of
distinction (Matthew 8:2,6,8; 15:27; Mark 7:28; Luke 5:12); by the disciples in
saluting Jesus, their teacher and master (Matthew 8:25; 16:22; Luke 9:54; John
11:12).This title is given to God,
the ruler of the universe, both with the article ‘ho kurios’ (Matthew 1:22;
5:33; Mark 5:19; Acts 7:33; 2 Timothy 1:16,18) and without the article (Matthew
21:9; 27:10; Mark 13:20; Luke 2:9,23, 26; Hebrews 7:21).The title is also applied to Jesus as
the Messiah, since by His death He acquired a special ownership of mankind and
after His resurrection was exalted by a partnership in the divine administration
(Acts 10:36; Romans 14:8; 1 Corinthians 7:22; 8:6; Philippians 2:9-11).

5. Master, master, lord = Baal (Heb. ba`al, “master”),
applied only to heathen deities, or to the man as husband, and so on, or to one
especially skilled in a trade or profession.See Baal.

6. Other and less important words in the original are
rendered “Lord,” such as mare', “master” (Acts 2:47), an official title, and
seren, a Philistine term found in Joshua, Judges, and 1 Samuel, where “the lords
of the Philistines” are mentioned.

According to New Unger’s Bible Dictionary, the word,
“LORD” seen in the OT is “Yahweh.”Unger’s says of the word Yahweh:

This is used as a proper name of God and should
have been retained in that form by the translators.”Since we know that most translators have
mistranslated the name of the Almighty, by calling Him, “LORD,” instead of,
“Yahweh,” we will now research the word “God.”Perhaps there are similar translator
errors here as well.:

A STUDY ON THE OLD TESTAMENT WORDS
USED FOR “GOD”

1.“El” - The
primary Hebrew word for ‘God’ is the word “El.”By using Strong’s Definition, we can
quickly ascertain the meaning of both the Hebrew and Greek words for “God”:

“El” = GOD or god ('el 410).This term was the most common general
designation of deity in the ancient Near East.While it frequently occurred alone, ‘el’
was also combined with other words to constitute a compound term for deity, or
to identify the nature and functions of the “god” in some manner.Thus the expression “God, the God of
Israel” (Genesis 33:20) identified the specific activities of Israel's God.

In the ancient world, knowledge of a person's name was
believed to give one power over that person.Knowledge of the character and
attributes of pagan “gods” was thought to enable the worshipers to manipulate or
influence the deities in a more effective way than they could have if the
deity's name remained unknown.

To that extent, the vagueness of the term ‘el’ frustrated
persons who hoped to obtain some sort of power over the deity, since the name
gave little or no indication of the god's character.This was particularly true for El, the
chief Canaanite god.

The ancient Semites stood in mortal dread of the superior
powers exercised by the gods and attempted to propitiate them accordingly.They commonly associated deity with the
manifestation and use of enormous power.Hence the common meaning of the word for God (el) simply meant,
“strength” or “strong.”

The concept of a deities’ strength or might is reflected
in the curious Hebrew phrase, “the power (‘el’) of my hand” (Genesis 31:29),
KJV; RSV, “It is in my power”; cf. (Deuteronomy 28:32).

Some Hebrew phrases in the Psalms associated ‘el’ with
impressive natural features, such as the cedar trees of Lebanon (Psalms 80:10)
or mountains (Psalms 36:6). In these instances, ‘el’ conveys a clear impression
of grandeur or majesty.

Names with ‘el’ as one of their components were common in
the Near East in the second millennium B. C. The names Methusael in Genesis 4:18
and Ishmael Genesis 16:11 come from a very early period.

In the Mosaic period, ‘el’ was synonymous with the Lord
who delivered the Israelites from bondage in Egypt and made them victorious in
battle (Read Numbers 24:8). This tradition of the Hebrew ‘el’ as a “God” who
revealed Himself in power and entered into a covenant relationship with His
people was prominent in both poetry (Psalms 7:11; 85:8) and prophecy (Isaiah
43:12; 46:9).

The name of ‘el’ was commonly used by the Israelites to
denote supernatural provision or power. This was both normal and legitimate,
since the covenant between “God” and Israel assured an obedient and holy people
that the creative forces of the universe would sustain and protect at all
times.Equally, if they became
disobedient and apostate, these same forces would punish them severely.

SUMMARY OF FACTS ON THE
HEBREW WORD ‘EL’ FOR GOD

This term was the most common general designation of deity
in the ancient Near East.

The word ‘el’ was also combined with other words to
constitute a compound term for deity, or to identify the nature and functions of
the “god” in some manner.

Knowledge of the character and attributes of pagan “gods”
was thought to enable the worshipers to manipulate or influence the deities in a
more effective way than they could have if the deity's name remained
unknown.To that extent, the
vagueness of the term ‘el’ frustrated persons who hoped to obtain some sort of
power over the deity, since the name gave little or no indication of the god's
character.

Names with ‘el’ as one of their components were common in
the Near East in the second millennium B. C.

In the Mosaic period, ‘el’ was synonymous with the Lord
who delivered the Israelites from bondage in Egypt.

This tradition of the Hebrew ‘el’ as a “God” who revealed
Himself in power and entered into a covenant relationship with His people was
prominent.

The name of ‘el’ was commonly used by the Israelites to
denote supernatural provision or power.

INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPEDIA ON THE WORDS ‘EL’, ‘ELOHIM’ AND
‘ELOAH’

1. ‘El’: In the group of Semitic languages, the most
common word for Deity is El (‘el’), represented by the Babylonian ilu and the
Arabic ‘Allah’.It is found
throughout the Old Testament, but more often in Job and Psalms than in all the
other books. It occurs seldom in the historical books, and not at all in
Leviticus.The same variety
of derivations is attributed to it as to ELOHIM, most probable of which is the
Hebrew root word ‘ul’, meaning, “to be strong.” Brown, Driver, and Briggs,
Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament interprets ‘ul’ as meaning “to
be in front,” from which came ‘ayil’, “ram” the one in front of the flock, and
‘elah’, “the prominent.”

d)The root words from which Elohim derives it’s origin indicate
that Elohim can also have in it’s meaning the idea of “strength; as
adjective, mighty; especially the Almighty (but used also of any
deity).”

The first form of the Divine name in the Bible is
‘Elohim’, ordinarily translated “God” (Genesis 1:1).Elohim for “God” is the most frequently
used name in the Old Testament, as its equivalent Theos, is in the New
Testament.Elohim occurs in Genesis
alone approximately 200 times.Though a wide chasm exists between the languages of Greek and Hebrew, the
basic definition for elohim and theos is nearly identical in use and
meaning.

The Hebrew Elohim is one of a group of kindred words, to
which belong also ‘El’ and ‘Eloah.’Its form is plural, but the construction is uniformly singular, i.e. it
governs a singular verb or adjective, unless used of heathen divinities (Ps
96:5; 97:7) or earthly judges (magistrates; rulers; Psalms 82:1 “rulers”; Psalms
82:6 – the judges in Israel are called “gods”).

It is characteristic of Hebrew that, by extension, elohim
means magnitude and dignity.As a
plural noun in use with singular verbs and pronouns, the word is distinctly
singular in nature, but applied as a plural of majesty or
multiplication of strength.That is, elohim is a plural word used to express greatness, and to
magnify the basic meaning of its root word (el’ meaning strength) as the
“strongest of the strong.”

Elohim is also used of actual multiplicity and expressed
literally by the plural (numeric).It is not reasonable, therefore, to assume that the plurality of form
indicates primitive Semitic polytheism. On the contrary, historic Hebrew is
unquestionably and uniformly monotheistic.

UNCERTAIN
ORIGIN OF ELOHIM

The derivation of elohim is quite uncertain.Gesenius, Ewald and others find its
origin in ‘ul’, meaning, “to be strong.”The Hebrew ‘ul’ is derived from ‘ayil’, meaning, “ram” and ‘elah,’
meaning, “terebinth.”

Elohim is then an expanded plural form of ‘el’; others
trace it to ‘alah,’ meaning, “to terrify.”The singular form is found in the infrequent Hebrew word ‘eloah,’ which
occurs chiefly in poetical books.

Brown, Driver, and Briggs, Hebrew and English Lexicon of
the Old Testament inclines to the derivation being from ‘alah,’ meaning, “to be
strong.”They contend ‘alah’ as the
root of the three forms, ‘El’, ‘Eloah,’ and ‘Elohim,’ although admitting that
the whole question is involved in uncertainty

·NOTE: It is this author’s contention that the root
word origin of 'elowahh (‘alah’ meaning, “to be strong”) is the most
likely source of the Arabic “Allah.”Allah is the name of the principle deity of the pagan religion of
Islam.The heathen nations borrowed
from the Semitic language to create names for their particular deities.

The origin of the Hebrew word elohim must always lie in
doubt, since the derivation is prehistoric, and the name, with its kindred words
‘El’ and ‘Eloah’, is common to Semitic languages and religions and beyond the
range of Hebrew records.

It is the reasonable conclusion that the meaning is
“might” or “power”; that it is common to Semitic language; that the form is
plural to express majesty or “all-mightiness,” and that it is a generic, rather
than a specific personal, name for Deity, as is indicated by its application to
those who represent the Deity (Judges 5:8; Psalms 82:1) or who are in His
presence (1 Samuel 28:13).

3.‘Eloah’:
The singular form of the preceding name, ‘Eloah’, is confined in its use almost
exclusively to poetry, or to poetic expression, being characteristic of the Book
of Job, occurring more often in that book than in all other parts of the Old
Testament.It is, in fact, found in
Job more often than the ordinary plural ‘Elohim’.For derivation and meaning see above
under 1 (2). Compare also the Aramaic form, ‘elah’, found frequently in Ezra and
Daniel.

4. ‘Elah’
426, “god.” This Aramaic word is the equivalent of the Hebrew ‘eloah.’It is a general term for “God” in the
Aramaic passages of the Old Testament, and it is a cognate form of the word
‘Allah’, the designation of deity used by the Arabs.

Elah is used widely in the Book of Ezra, occurring no
fewer than 43 times between Ezra 4:24 and 7:26. On each occasion, the reference
is to the “God” of the Jewish people, whether the speaker or writer was himself
Jewish or not.While the Persians
were certainly not worshipers of the “God” of Israel, they accorded Him the
dignity that befitted a "God of heaven" (Ezra 6:10).This was done partly through
superstition; but the pluralistic nature of the newly won Persian empire also
required them to honor the gods of conquered peoples, in the interests of peace
and social harmony.

In the only verse in the Book of Jeremiah that was written
in Aramaic (Jeremiah10:11), the word ‘elah’ appears in plural form to describe
“gods” that had not participated in the creation of the universe.Although such false “gods” were being
worshiped by pagan nations (and perhaps worshiped by some of the Hebrews who
were in exile in Babylonia), these deities would ultimately perish because they
were not eternal in nature.

In the Book of Daniel, ‘elah’ was used both of heathen
“gods” and the one true “God” of heaven (Daniel 2:11).The Chaldeans referred to such “gods”
when reporting that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to participate in
idol worship on the plain of Dura (Daniel 3:12).

Daniel enumerated the “gods” when he condemned
Nebuchadnezzar’s neglect of the worship of Israel's one true “God” (Daniel
5:23).In Daniel 3:25, the word
‘elah’ refers to a divine being or messenger sent to protect the three Hebrews
(Daniel 3:28). In Daniel 4:8-9,18 and Daniel 5:11, the phrase “the spirit of the
holy gods” appears (KJV, RSV, NEB, NIV).Elsewhere the references to ‘elah’ are to the living “God” whom Daniel
worshiped.

The word
‘elah’ is similar in it’s uses to the word “el.”Both of these words are used
interchangeably for either the one true God, or to pagan deities (the pagan
deities are really no gods at all!READ Galatians 4:8).

Old Testament word summary

The most common words used on the OT for God, are
“elohim,” and “el.”Both Hebrew
words indicate, “might, strength, most excellent’; of the highest order;
greatest; superior or supreme; magnificent; pre-eminent; foremost; unsurpassed;
unequaled.”

Since the OT words used for the Supreme deity have the
basic meaning of, “strength,” why did the King James and other English
translators used the word “God” instead?The translators could have translated the word “elohim” as “the mighty
One of mighty ones,” or “the Strongest One.”

In like manner, Bible translators could have translated
the Hebrew word “el” as “one with strength” or “the Strong one.”Rather than be true to the Hebrew
meanings, for some unknown reason, the King James and subsequent translators
have used the Anglo-Saxon word “God,” which means “the invoked one.”

A Study on NT words for God

The NT is much less complex in its use of words for
“God.”The NT manuscripts are
primarily in Greek, with the exception of some Aramaic.The King James Version and other Bible
translators have blundered by using a generic word, “god” to refer to the
Almighty.

The problem with associating the Almighty with lesser
deities is more than mere semantics.When God inspired both OT and NT writers to pen the inspired text of
scripture, He knew the importance of word meanings.

It is NOT BY ACCIDENT that God used the Hebrew word
‘elohim’ and the Greek word ‘theos’ as the primary word to describe
himself.Elohim and theos are
virtually identical in meaning, and to translate both words with an
Indo-European bastard language is taking away from our understanding of Him as
the strong one, or as our source of strength.

The antiquity of the Semitic languages are more pure than
Greek.The Hellenized Roman Empire
had adopted the Greek pantheon of deities.Both Greek and Roman culture were polytheistic and they had numerous
deities, but they used one basic root word to describe a deity in general.This word was theos or theotes, albeit
the word was commonly applied to rulers (magistrates).

Both Greek and Roman societies embodied secular leadership
with their deities.Great men and
women (those of high status and influence) were viewed as gods and
goddesses.Platonic philosophy
blended nicely with the anthropomorphism of pagan deities.Those whom they subjugated worshiped
conquering kings.Sages were
elevated to god status by virtue of the knowledge (gnosis) and were considered
divine luminaries and part of the greater Demiurge.

In New Testament times, Jews apparently used “Theós,” and
“Theós” was later retained by Christians to denote “the one true God.”In the Septuagint “Theós” translates
(with few exceptions) into the Hebrew words Elohim and Yahweh; the former
indicating His power and preeminence; the latter is clearly a translator error
by those who worked on converting Hebrew into Greek.

When the Septuagint, which is the Hebrew OT translated
into Greek, was made, its translators were not true servants of Yahweh.Had they been, they would not have
associated the Hebrew word Yahweh (YHWH meaning, “He is” or “He exists”) with
the Greek word Theós, meaning “strength.”

Yahweh is a third person noun meaning literally, “He
is.”In the English Bible
translations of the OT, where “GOD” is all capitalized letters, it is the Hebrew
word “Yahweh.”After the Jews were
deported from Babylon, they no loner used the word “Yahweh” because of
superstitions that they would somehow be blaspheming the name to even utter
it.

Since most of the Roman Empire in NT times was Hellenized,
the majority of Jews spoke Greek, and therefore referred to their supreme deity
as “Theós.”Only a few scribes,
Pharisees, lawyers, and Sadducees actually spoke and wrote fluent Hebrew.They would use “Elohim” or “El” to refer
to the Supreme Deity, but no longer used Yahweh’s covenant name.

To distinguish the one true God from pagan deities, the
majority of Greek texts precede the noun Theós with the definite article “ho’
(meaning “the, this, that”).Of
course, to simply say “the God” does not prove he is, in reality, the supreme
deity.For example, in 2
Corinthians 4:4 the Greek text reads, “ho Theós” but refers to Satan, calling
him, “…the god of this world.”

However, if the Greek text “ho Theós” read, “the God
of this people Israel” as in the context of Acts 13:17, it would clearly
identify Him as the one and only true God.Also, if God’s attributes are used in connection with “ho Theós,” then
this would also be a way to distinguish the true God from pagan deities in the
NT.Some of His attribute are His
monism, (Mark 12:29; 1 Timothy 2:5; self-existence, (John 5:26);
unchallengeable, (James 1:17); eternal, (Romans 1:20); creative power, (Acts
17:26-28) and so on.

Theós is used with the definite article and without (an
anarthrous noun). The English may or may not have need of the article in
translation.But that point cuts no
figure in the Greek idiom. For example, in Acts 27:23 “the God (toú Theoú) whose
I am,” the article toú points out the special God whose Paul is, and is to be
preserved in English. In the very next verse (ho Theós) we in English do not
need the article" (A. T. Robertson, Gram. of Greek, NT, p. 758).

In the following titles God is described by certain of His
attributes; the God of glory, Acts 7:2; of peace, Romans 15:33; 16:20;
Philippians 4:9; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; Hebrews 13:20; of love and peace, 2
Corinthians 13:11; of patience and comfort, Romans 15:5; of all comfort, 2
Corinthians 1:3; of hope, Romans 15:13; of all grace, 1 Peter 5:10. These describe Him, not as in distinction
from other persons, but as the source of all these blessings; hence the
employment of the definite article.In such phrases as “the God of a person,” (e.g. - Matthew 22:32), the
expression marks the relationship in which the person stands to God and God to
him.

The word “theós” is also used of divinely appointed judges
in Israel, as representing God in His authority, as in John 10:34, quoted from
Psalms 82:6, which indicates that God Himself sits in judgment on those whom He
has appointed.Jesus refers to the
leaders of the Jews, saying, “You are gods…”

Theós is a genitive noun, and Theoú is the masculine noun.
Originally the heathen used Theós and they thought the gods were makers and
disposers (thetemres, placers) of all things.The ancient Greeks used the word both in
the singular and the plural.

When they used the plural form of Theós, they intimated
their belief that elements had their own “disposer” or “placer,” (e.g., the god
of money called mammon; read Matthew 6:24; Luke 16:9, 13).

The heavens were the grand objects of divine worship
throughout the heathen world as is apparent from the names attributed to the
gods by the ancient Greeks. The Scriptures also attest to this (Acts 7:42, 43;
Deut. 4:19; 17:3; 2 Kings 17:16; 23:4, 5; Job 31:26, 27; Jeremiah 8:2;
19:13; Zephaniah 1:5).

The gods the Greeks worshiped were the various aspects of
created nature, especially the heavens, or some demons or intelligences they
supposed resided in them. For instance, Orpheus, a legendary poet and musician
of ancient Thrace, noted for charming animate and inanimate objects with his
lyre, called most gods of the Greeks demons.

The Septuagint constantly translated the Hebrew plural
name Elohim, when used for the true God, by the singular Theós, “God”, never by
the plural “theoi”, meaning “gods.”The primary reason for this is that the Hebrew word “elohim” is a plural
of majesty, but the noun itself is singular.Plural of majesty emphasizes the
greatness of the noun elohim.Therefore the Hebrew word “elohim” would mean, “Mighty one of mighty
ones.”

Greek idolatry was the prevailing superstition, especially
in Egypt under the Ptolemy.Their
gods were regarded as demons, that is, intelligent beings totally separate and
distinct from each other.If the
translators rendered the name of the true God by the plural “theoi”, they would
have given the heathen under Greek culture an idea of a polytheistic God,
inconsistent with the numerous scriptures in the OT and NT that state “God is
One.”The following scriptures are
examples:

Theós is applied personally to the Father as the one true
“God.”(John 4:23-24;
2 Corinthians 13:14; Philippians 2:6)

The word “theós” also denotes the heathen gods or idols
(Acts 14:11; 1 Cor. 8:5); magistrates (John 10:34, 35); by false
application to Satan (2 Corinthians 4:4); to the belly which some people
make their god or in which they place their supreme happiness (Philippians
3:19).

Summary of NT word “theos”

The Greek word “Theós” simply refers to “deity.”In most cases the word is used for the
one true God.Theós is the Greek
counterpart to the Hebrew word “el” or “elohim,” and both Hebrew and Greek words
have comparable meanings.

Today, our word ‘theology’ (meaning the study of God)
comes from “theoó,” the root word of “theos.”It would be difficult to call the Almighty, “the Deity,”
particularly in our culture.People
will most likely always call the Creator by the term “God,” even though this
word is in no manner associated with scripture.

At the very least, earnest Christians with a reverence for
the scriptures would begin to refer to God as,”the Almighty,” or “the Mighty
One,” or “my Strength.”These words
denote His true nature and characteristics, whereas the generic word, “God”
tells us nothing about the One we love and serve.

It is my prayer that Christians from all walks of life
study the scripture, in order that they may know their Creator more intimately
and with more knowledge.The King
James translators used a pagan Anglo-Saxon word “god” from the Germanic
“gad.”No one has ever really
challenged this widespread use of this Indo-European word.

The King James translators made the same erroneous
translation of the covenant name of the Almighty.They changed the name “Yahweh”, which
means, “He is,” to the Anglo-Saxon word, “LORD.”Why?They cared less about the truth of
scripture than orthodoxy, and they decide to conform and relate to their manmade
tradition.It was too much work,
too big a leap of faith, and too unorthodox to step outside of their paradigms
and comfort zone.

It might seem strange at first to speak of the Almighty,
addressing His covenant name, and saying, “I love the one Who is,” instead of
saying, “I love the LORD.”But one
could at least acknowledge Him as, “The One who is, and was, and always will
be....”

Maybe by adding His attributes to the meaning of the name
Yahweh, one would pray in this manner, “The One WHO IS my strength, I call upon
You for help.”This study is not
intended to make a person more technical in their relationship with Almighty,
but to let their hearts and minds understand who He is in their life more
clearly.

Instead of calling Him “LORD God” (Yahweh Elohim), we
would call him, “He is the strongest one.”

Instead of calling Him “LORD God” (Yahweh El) we would
address Him as, “He is strength” or “He is MY strength” or “He is the strong
one” or “He is MY strong one.”

May the One who is, the One that exists as all you need
Him to be, give you’re a spirit of wisdom and knowledge and revelation that you
may understand His purpose and will for your life.